The utility provided by portable lamp assemblies is well established. Small portable lamp assemblies, especially those that employ quartz halogen lamps, are especially well suited for home use as well as for professional use that includes automotive repair shops, construction and excavation sites, photography studios and in various situations where a portable light source is required to illuminate specific objects and areas.
Most portable lamp assemblies are equipped with either a handle for carrying or are mounted on a stand for stationary, long-term positioning. These lamps are most often connected to a standard 120 volt a-c receptable by way of an electrical power cord. Despite their relative ease of use, the prior art lamps are often not designed to be selectively and easily positioned and secured for more unique or specialized applications.
The design of the present portable lamp assembly allows for greater use applications due to a heavy-duty spring-loaded clamp. This clamp allows the assembly to be clamped in various positions to various types of mounting structures, The clamp can also be positioned to serve as one of the legs when the assembly is placed upon a substantially flat surface.
A search of the prior art, which included patents and sales literature, did not disclose a portable lamp assembly that included a spring-loaded assembly attachment clamp that also functions as one of the assemblies legs. However, the following U.S. patents were considered related:
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. INVENTOR ISSUED ______________________________________ 5,195,823 Sidabras 23 March 1993 5,060,894 Hillinger 29 October 1991 5,003,450 Burton 26 March 1991 ______________________________________
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,195,823 Sidabras patent discloses a lamp and extension cord set consisting of a removable extension cord reel and lamp set mounted onto a stable base frame platform. The extension cord reel connects a lamp to an external power supply and is provided with a curved top bar as a safety feature and a handlebar for carrying the reel. The lamp set contains the light source within a lamp housing and a lamp cover. A power switch and a separate retractable power cord are attached to the lamp set for connection to the external power supply without the extension cord reel. The lamp may be pivoted or rotated both horizontally and vertically with respect to the base frame to adjust the direction of the light.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,894 Hillinger patent discloses a collapsible three leg structure that is used to support a stand with a T-section having at least one light fixture attached to its end. The collapsible legs are attached to the stand by a disk member held within a pair of ears. One of the ears has a toothed opening as does the disk member. A gear member may be moved to a locked position where the gear contacts the toothed portions of the disk member and one of the ears which locks the disk in a fixed position. When the gear is moved out of contact with the disk member, the disk member is free to move with respect to the pair of ears. Thus, allowing the legs to be placed in various locked positions.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,003,450 Burton patent discloses a portable light fixture which is specifically adapted to be hand-held and utilized for emergency applications, particularly with respect to motor vehicles. The fixture consists of a conical-shaped lens which is rotatably mounted to a cylindrical housing. Disposed within the interior of the housing is a spool which is rigidly attached on one end of the lens and on the other end to a plate. The plate is located on the bottom of the housing, such that the lens, spool and bottom plate will rotate in unison. The spool further includes a wound electrical cord of which one end is connected to a conventional light bulb disposed beneath the lens. The opposite end of the cord includes a connector which may be inserted into a cigarette lighter receptacle of an automobile, or alternatively connected by way of alligator clips to the battery terminals of the automobile.
For background purposes and as indicative of the art to which the invention relates reference may be made to the remaining cited patents.
______________________________________ PATENT NO. INVENTOR ISSUED ______________________________________ 5,307,255 Chen 26 April 1994 5,126,928 Hughes 30 June 1992 5,088,014 Boughey 11 February 1992 4,535,391 Hsiao 13 August 1985 4,075,470 Moore 21 February 1978 ______________________________________